Days of Despair of the Past
by sske
Summary: Set in a distant past where magic and mystical beasts exist, the Queen seeks Makoto Naegi to induce greater despair to the ancient world. Facing against the Saviours of Hope, Makoto must search for the rest of his team to combat against them, the Remnants of Despair. (Oops, seems to have an error. I have edited it.)


Prologue

 _Long ago, the Kingdom of Jabberwock was prosperous and happy, ruled under the firm hand of their leader, the King. The King was strict but caring, wise but understanding, and he along with the Knights of the Holy Unity, his most trusted aides chosen from the thousands of his soldiers due to the unique attributes and abilities, led his people through a golden age of peace, protecting their territory from invading barbarians and defeating enemy kingdoms. It goes without saying that his people revelled in his presence whenever he made his presence in public and undoubtedly wished that his rule would continue indefinitely._

 _His rule would have continued for many years to come if it wasn't for that fateful day two years ago._

 _The day when the King was assassinated, by his wife Queen Junko._

 _Using him as a sacrifice, the Queen attempted to open a portal to another dimension for reasons yet unknown, but her plans were thwarted by half of the Knights. However, this resulted in the destruction of part of the castle and due to the lack of witnesses, they were framed for that and the murder of the King and were exiled from the kingdom, splitting the Knights of the Holy Unity into two. The half that was innocent from the crime were renamed as the Saviours of Hope while the blackened Knights were cursed as the Remnants of Despair._

 _Under the new leadership of the Queen, life in the kingdom gradually became worse, almost unbearable. Poverty and hunger went rampage among the streets, the wealthy became even more well off while the poor were left to rot in the street. Crime rate would have soared, but under the watchful eyes of the Saviours of Hope and the threat of horrific executions that were held in the town square, no one dared to rebel against the Queen. Not if they value their lives. Many brave souls had tried; all were met with failure and death._

 _Under the façade of peace, the Age of Despair loomed over the kingdom…_

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In the tallest tower of Castle Hope Peak, in a small room sat a man.

The room was made of stone, with a small window the size of an arm cut out at one of the walls. Its purpose was not to allow the room occupant to admire to splendid view of the kingdom, but to allow oxygen into the room so he would not suffocate.

He couldn't be bothered, anyway. The view was too boring.

The other noteworthy things in this room were a bed, a portrait and a golden bell with a pulley hanging on the wall, and the wooden stood the man was sitting on. The bareness of the room gave a lonely atmosphere.

The long-haired man, dressed in a simple black nobleman clothes, sat on the stool with his eyes closed, almost as if he was meditating. Nothing in the room interests him (not there is anything to be interested in), nothing in the air fazed him. If one were to look at him, they would think he was a very detailed stature.

The silence persevered in the room for a while, with the man continuing to sit there, when suddenly he opened his eyes.

Without a word, he stood up from his seat and walked to the window. He did not come to enjoy the freshness of the morning air nor the cooling breeze nor to admire the scenery. No, he was looking at the hill just outside of the kingdom boundary walls, as if he was seeing something no one else could.

Apparently satisfied with something, the man reached out and pull the pulley.

Immediately, a loud ringing sound echoed in the castle. After the din ceased, the man unlocked the door and left his room, descending the winding stairs.

Izuru Kamukura, the castle clairvoyant, had a prophecy to make.

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The room known as the War Room housed a large rectangular table which sat in the middle of the room. Various shields and swords taken from conquests of other kingdoms once hung proudly on the walls, but now its shine was gloomed by dust and negligence. Charts and maps of the known world were scattered all over the room, and it would be hard to gather them back together under the dim lighting of the few candles in the room. Perhaps that's why they laid forgotten in this room.

Sonia Nevermind never liked to be in this room. The dust ruins her golden lock of hair and turn her pristine white dress dirty grey. As the Queen's consultant and spokesperson, she had to keep up in appearance. The Queen rarely makes any public appearance, leaving Sonia to fulfil that role to make public speeches. Some of people even mistaken her to be the Queen herself.

What an insult. To think that she was worthy of the title of the Queen, how could they-?!

There will only be one Queen.

Standing at the head of the table, Sonia coldly surveyed to room. Under the dim illumination, she could barely make out the shapes and forms of the rest of the Saviours of Hope, seeing them as only shadows. There's a foreboding aura that surrounded the group, a darkness that permeated from their bodies, a sense of unnaturalness that refused to go away.

"Hey, what the fuck is it now?! You have interrupted our pursue of the Crazy Diamonds! We almost got them too!" A small figure growled as he leaned back on his chair and sent to armoured feet slamming on the table, sending small clouds of dust flying all over the place.

"Calm down, young master. I'm sure whatever reason Lady Sonia had is too important to be ignored." A tall figure standing rigidly beside him spoked softly.

"Shut up, Peko! I didn't ask you to talk, did I?"

"I assure you, Fuyuhiko, that this is more important than the capture of that small annoyance." Sonia sighed, seemingly unaffected by the short man's outburst.

"I-I need to take care of my patients too…t-they need me…" A girl murmured nervously, crutching the edge of the table so tightly her armoured fingers dig deep into the wood.

"Pah! As if they need an ugly, stinky pigbarf like you! You just want to satisfy your sadistic tendencies, right!?" A short figure across the room snorted, glaring at the first figure.

"Ehh..EHHHHH? That sounds so t-t-terrible when y-you put it that way!" The girl wailed.

"Hiyoko, let's not go into that right now, alright?" The figure sitting beside Hiyoko said, casting a worried glance at the first figure.

Hiyoko's face twisted into a scowl. "But Mahiruuuu, those corpses smelt so bad that I can even smell it in my room! If Mikan want to experiment on them, she should-"

"OI! Can you all shut up already! Can't you see that Lady Sonia wants to speak!" A pink-haired knight yelled in frustration as he slammed a hammer down on the table, creating a sizable dent.

"i-I'm sorrrrry!" Mikan cried as she raised her arms in front of her face, as if afraid the knight would use the hammer on her. Hiyoko gave an irritated huff and looked away.

"Thank you, Kaizuichi." Sonia sighed, while the knight stared at her direction and gave a goofy smile. She really hated that expression. "Before I begin, is everyone present?"

"Hmmm…It appears that is so, except for Nagito." A burly man spoke gruffly, as though he was trying to keep his voice unnaturally soft.

"Huh, he always skips our meetings. Wished I could be like him too, staying in such a cramped space ain't my style. I wanna kill something already!" The dark-skinned woman beside him grumbled, stretching as if to emphasise her point.

The huge man laughed heartily as he slapped his hand on her back. "Patience, Akane! Once this is over, we could borrow a few patients from Mikan and have a sparring session with them!"

"Really? Wow, thanks old man!" Akane's eyes lit up as she hugged the man, ignoring Mikan's soft whimper of "But they belong to me…"

"I bet Nagito is off making out somewhere with a hot lady, mhmmhmmm…that lucky bastard…maybe showing off some of his _meat dishes_ for her to savour…" A short plump man mused, giggling conspicuously, his hand slowly reached between his legs…

"Brrr…! Geez, Ibuki got goosebumps hearing Teruteru's gross fantasies!" The girl with multi-coloured hair sitting across complained loudly as she tried to suppress a shiver. Mahiru glared at the culprit causing Ibuki's discomfort and smacked him on the head. Being hit with an armoured hand in the head isn't a pleasant experience.

"Don't be ridiculous," A fat man dressed in a royal man clothes said condescendingly. "I passed by Nagito a few minutes earlier as I was leaving my office. He said he was going to get a breath of fresh air from one of the towers."

"Hm, that man sure is troublesome. He claims to be on the side of the angels, yet his heart seemed to be taken by Neostalfa himself…a devious enigma." A pale skinned man muttered disapprovingly. Unlike most of his comrades who were in armour, the man was dressed in night black robes covering almost every skin of his body, except for his hands and head, holding a metal staff with his bandaged hands.

"Ahh, who cares about that bastard, he also run wherever the hell he wants. One of us could pass the message along to him later. So what the fuck you want, Sonia?" Fuyuhiko said. Kazuichi looked like he was to yell at Fuyuhiko for his disrespectful tone, but was stopped by Sonia, who raised her hand.

"I think its better for him to tell you."

As if on cue, the entrance door slid opened and Izuru Kamukura walked in nonchalantly.

Immediately, everyone stiffened. The rowdy atmosphere seemed to freeze and silence prevailed. Everyone's eyes watched the man like a hawk as he calmly stood beside Sonia. Izuru stared at the Saviours of Hope. Was awe, respect or fear that was etched on their faces? Long ago, when he was that MAN he might have felt a sense of pride, of power over the feared Saviours, but now, such feelings held no special interest to him at all. After all, what's there to feel power over a bunch of mere insects?

"No way, you got a prediction…?" Hiyoko said in astonishment.

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't." Izuru replied dully, causing the girl to clam up. His prediction happens once in a blue moon, so rare that the others sometimes forgot he existed because he would always stay in his room if he had nothing to say. But they were mostly correct, unlike the previous clairvoyant.

Everyone listened in bated breath as they listened to his words.

"As you all are aware, the Queen is attempting to stabilise the portal leading to the Mono Dimension for a long time now, but has yet to achieve the same success two years ago. However, there is a way. Only with the sacrifice of a certain person, would the curse of failure be halted."

That caught everyone's attention.

"Who is it?!"

"Tell us, man!"

"I-if it is me, I w-will gladly sacrifice myseeeelf!"

The rowdy atmosphere peaked up but just as it started, it died down. Everyone leaned forward to listen to the man.

"Make no mistake, it is not an easy task capturing this man. There will be others would stand beside him to protect him from any harmful intent you may have on him, no matter what."

"Just tell us already!" Kazuichi snarled, waving his hammer menacingly, but Izuru was unfazed, not even sparing him a glance.

"The man…is Makoto Naegi."

A loud gasp echoed across the room.

"Him? That cutie patoonie puppy?" Ibuki said.

"So it's the shorty huh? Hey Fuyuhiko, your shorty friend is gonna be the sacrifice!" Hiyoko laughed maliciously as she stared at the short man.

"I think you should SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU BITCH!"

"How appropriate for the devil himself to be the sacrifice for this holy ritual…" The pale-skinned man muttered to himself

"So the others…" The fat man said, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"You should know who they are," Izuru droned on. "It is as you thought, 'Togami'. You would have to face the Remnants of Despair to get him."

"Hm, seems like we will have to cross path with them…" The burly man nodded to himself, deep in thought.

"Ohhh, are we gonna fight them?! God, I can't wait! My heart is pounding like crazy!" Akane cried in delight.

"Hmph, those losers, they are nothing compared to us." Hiyoko smirked.

"I can't wait to see them again…I wonder how the cooked flesh of a Remnant taste like…" Teruteru said gleefully, licking his lips.

Sonia clapped her hands, gaining the attention of the rest of the Knights. "We have to capture Makoto Naegi. So that the dream, the ambition of our Queen can be fulfilled…bringing glory to the kingdom and getting rid of scums like the Remnants off the face of the Earth!" Sonia proclaimed, her beautiful face twisted like a visage of a demon. She stood up, raising her hand towards the sky like a messiah foretelling the end of the world.

"For our Queen…for the hope of this kingdom…"

The cries of agreement, laughter of madness, animal-like howls revebrated throughout the room as the darkness inside intensified. 14 pairs of crimson eyes stared at each other in comradery. Every act or thought of pleasing their Queen would send them to a maniacal frenzy.

That was what they lived for.

Izuru ignored the loud commotion and exited the room without a backward glance, his work completed. Now all he had to do is sit back and watch. The clash between the Remnants of Despairs and the Saviours of Hope…now that might be something interesting to watch.

He took a few steps before stopping abruptly.

"I see you have been eavesdropping."

Nagito Komaeda leaned back against the wall, smiling. "Ah, Kamukura, for you to notice a trash like me…it is truly an honour."

Izuru turned to face the man. Nagito always seemed to have a sickly and dishevelled appearance, probably because of his long messy white hair and the wild look in his eyes. Or maybe it is that enigmatic smile he had, seemingly warm and friendly yet colder than the deepest depth of hell.

He was leaning against the wall, a calm look on his face, yet beneath that expression, Izuru knew that his gears in his mind was whirling and planning, nothing like the expression he portrayed.

"I assumed that's why you didn't join the meeting." It wasn't a question, but a statement.

Nagito gave a throaty laugh. 'You know me too well, Kamukura. But that wasn't all." Then his expression took a darker turn. "I despise being in contact with the twisted hope they harboured."

Izuru remained silent. But Nagito didn't seem to notice, instead he rambled on.

"I heard what you have said. I heard what they said. To think that hope to them was to fulfil their Queen's wish to open the portal to the Mono Dimension, how disgusting. Seeing how misguided the people I've admired have been about hope, it was saddening. What lies in there…is despair."

"But you are going to help them." Izuru spoked disinterestedly.

Nagito's smile grew wider, his red eyes seemed to lighten up from what he was about to say next.

"Of course," he smiled, his arms wrapped around his body. "I would help them. After all, conquering this despair, whether be it the Remnants or us or anyone else, would bring a greater hope to this kingdom, no, to mankind itself, if I do say so myself. This is but a first step to a greater future. With my luck, I hoped that even someone as insignificant as I could witness such a spectacular event."

"…How predictable." Izuru turned away from the rambling man, already bored of the conversation.

"But you have an ulterior motive too, don't you?" Nagito's words stopped him in his tracks. "You wanted the portal to open so-"

"Silence." Izuru gave a sharp glare over his shoulder, a glare that would send the bravest man to his knees in fear. But Nagito kept on smiling, raising his hands in a sign of defeat. "Of course, I shouldn't have probe into the personal affairs of someone as amazing as you. I apologise."

Izuru ignored the man's apology and headed back to his room, locking the door and sitting on the same stool.

Staring at the portrait of a girl who he lost long ago.


End file.
